Tide-motor.



. of which is provided TIDE-MOTOR.

.Application le April 7, 192s,

Y0 all whom t may concern Be it known that 1, Jouw A. livowLToN, acitizen of the United States of America, ai. d a resident of Dorchester,in thecounty of Sudolk and State of lvlassachusetts, have inventedcertain new and useful lmprovements in Tide-Motors, of which the foll(wing is a specification.

This invention is an improvement in tide motors, and the object of theinvention is to provide a tide motor which will deliver powercontinuously, be simple in structure and etlicient in operation.

T he features of the invention employed to the accomplishment of thisobject and such `others as may hereinafter appear, will best beunderstood from the following description and accompanying drawings.

Of the drawings: Figure 1 isa plan view of the improved tide motor. Fig.2 is a central longitudinal section of the motor shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3is a detail view on an enlarged scale showing the power transmissionmechanism, and Fig. 4 is a section on the line `5-5 of Fig. 8.

Similar characters throughout the several figures of ings.

designate like parts the drawln order that a tide motor shall delivercontinuous power, it is necessary to-provide power delivering meanswhich act during the fall of the tide as well as during the'rise. rllhepresent invention contemplates the provision of a motor A which deliverspower on each tide and two motors B and C which alternate in deliveringpower during the ebb and slack tide periods.

1n the drawings, 10 indicates a wall structure of cement or othersuitable material set in the water'and having its base below the lowwater level indicated by the line X X. rEhe structure is arranged toform three tanks or wells, one well 11 always open to the tide throughthe opening 12, and two closed wells 13 and 14. The well 11 forms a partof the motor A, and as the motors B and C are exactly similar in formexcept that the last two wells are not always 'open to the tide, adescription of one motor will suffice for all.

rlhe motor A comprises a float 15 having attached thereto a vertical bar16, one face with a rack 17 (Fig. The rack is in mesh with a gear 18loosely mounted on a shaft 19 carried in specification of LettersEatent.

Serial No. 830,543.

the shaft 19, at

Patented Dec.. 2d, '1916.

Renewed lay 11, 1916. Serial No. 96,946.

journals 20. lvllhen, the float 15 is rising with the flood-tide, thegear 18 is rotated and its motion is imparted to the shaft 19 through apawl 21, mounted on the gear, which engages a tooth in the ratchet wheelZ2 fixed on the shaft 19. r1`his drives the shaft during the rise of thetide and permits the float to drop with the fall.

1n order that the energy of the falling weight may not be wasted,provision is made for utilizing the weight to aid in driving the shaft19. This is done by providing a gearl 25 in mesh with the rack 17,rotatably mounted on a counter shaft 26. The counter shaft is supportedat each end by a yoke 27 depending from the shaft 19. The.. upper endsof the yokes may surround the hubs 2S of the ratchet wheels QQ ifdesired. The yokrs have arms 29 which extend on each side of the har 1Gand carry rolls 30 to retain the rack in engagement with the gears. Thegea r 27S is rigidly connected with a larger gear ill hy screws 32 andthis gear is in mesh with a gear 83 on the shaft 19. r1`he gear f isconnected to drive the shaft by a pawl 34- and a ratchet wheel 35 ineXactly the same way as has been described with relation to the gear 1S.By this construction the downward movement of the rack 17 drives thegear 83 in the direction of the arrow on Fig. 3 and the motion istransmitted to the shaft by the ratchet and pawl. 1t is apparent thatthe direction of theI rotation of the gears 1S and 33 is always oppositeso that while one gear is driving the shaft, the other gear is runningidly in the opposite direction with -its pawl clicking over the ratchetteeth. The shaft 19 is driven continuously by the action of one of themotors as will be hereinafter described, and, as the weight of the float15 is not suflicient to drive the shaft of itself, the decreasing ratioof the gears 33, 31, and Q5A lifts the iioat slightly out of the wateras the tide ebhs and causes the weight of the iioat to assist in drivingthe shaft. More briefly stated, the float is allowedto descend by therotation of a slower speed than the fall of the tide. The shaft 19 isprovided with means for transmitting power, such as a pulley 36, andextends through the gears 18 and 33 of each of the motors A, B, and C.

rlllhe float 15 of the motor A rises and falls with every tide. 1n orderthat the motors B and C may work at times not coincident with the risev`of the tide, a reservoir is provided for the storage of a supply of wa;

that the motor A again takes up the load and rises to the high tideposition. When ter at a height greater than the highest tide.' themoto-r A completes its second upward movement the valve 62 is opened toallow Water is delivered to the reservoir through a pipe 40"by a pump 41having a pipe 42 leading into the water to a point below the low 'waterlline. The pump maybe driven by any suitable means, such as a compressedair motor 43 connected by a pipe 44 with a chamber 45 which is suppliedwith air from an air compressor actuated by the tide.

In order to operate the motor B from the reservoir 40, the well 13 isconnected with lthe reservoir by a pipe 55 of such size that thewaterpassin-g through the pipe fills the well atv-a speed lequal to therise of the tide. The flow through the pipe is controlled byA a valve 56which is opened by a cord 57. A pipe 58 and valve 59X, operated b-y acord 59, supply water to the well 14 in the same manner.- Water from theoutside may enter .or leave the wells 13 and 14 by a pipe 60 of suitablesize to .move the water in the well at tide speed, which may be openedto either of the wells by valves 61 and 62 movable by means of handles63 and 64.

The valves 61 and 62 are opened when the tide is high and water Howsinto the wells until the rising water level in the wells and the fallingtide level are nearly equal. The valves 61 and 62 are then closed andthe valves 56 and 59c are opened to supply water to the wells from thereservoir 40. When the valves 61 and 62 are opened on the falling or lowtide, the water level descends at the same speed at which the tidefalls.

lBy this construction the floats of the motors B and C have exactly thesame movement as though they were acted upon directly by the tide.

f The operation of this invention is' as follows; Starting with the riseof the tide, the motor A acts until the tide has reached approximatelyits highest point, as shown in Fig. 2. At this time the valve 61 isopened,

vthe water from the outside high tide to flow into the well 14 of themotor C. This motor acts inthe same manner as the motor B,

' the first part of its upward motion being deand onthe second ebb thefloats of the motors A and B. The cycle of the machine is then repeated.

As the weight of the descending floats is not sufficient to turn theshaft 19, the shaft is driven by the float which is rising with the tideor with the water which is admitted lat tide speed. Thus the train ofgears 25, 31, and 33 act to retard the downward movement of thedescending floats, which, of course, causes the weight of the floats tobeapplied toward driving the shaft. From the foregoing description it isapparent that one `of the three'floats is always /rising at tide speed,either from the direct action of the tide or from water admitted fromthe reservoir.` By this construction the shaft is continuously driven ata constant speed with lrelation to the movement of the tide. Normalvariations in the movement of the tide will naturally produce acorresponding variation in the speed of the shaft.

It is to be understood that this invention is capable of wide variationinstructure and arrangement of parts, and the invention is which allowswater to flow into the well 13"advanta`ges of the invention will befully unfrom the outside high water and fill itat the same rate at which'the tide rises. At about the time the oat reaches dotted line position,theI tide will have descended to nearly the same level as the water inthe well so that the flow thereto will soon cease. order to `keep themotor B in operation, the valve 61 is now closed and the valve 56 openedwhich causes the well 13 to be filled with waterfrom the reservoir 40,thus imparting a full movement to the float, which is held in itsuppermost position by'keeping both vvalves closed until after' motor Ahas again risen; after which ythe valve 61 is opened to allow the waterto escape from the well 13 and permitting the oats of motors A and B todescend simultaneously. By the time the motor B has completed its upwardmovement the tide is again at low water so derstood from the foregoingdescription.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1.. In a tide motor, the combination with a float of'means fortransmitting power from the float as the tide rises, means fortransmitting power lfrom the'flo'at as the tide falls, and meansl forcausing the float to fall at less speed relatively to the speed of theloosely mounted gear in mesh with the rack,

rendeva means for operatively connecting the shaft and the gear when thegear rotates in one direction only, a second gear on the shaft, meansfor .operatively connecting the gear and the vshaft when the gearrotates in one direction only, and speed increasing gears connecting therack and the second gear whereby equal movements of the rack in oppositedirections will impart a greater movement to the second gear than to thefirst.

et. A tide motor comprising a float freely movable with the tide, asecond float movable independently ofthe tide, means for supplying waterto the last named float whereby the float is moved attide speedindependently of the movement of the tide and means for transmittingpower from the floats.

5. A tide motor comprising a float freely movable with the tide, a floatarranged to be lifted at tide speed during an ebb tide, a float arrangedto be lifted at tide speed during the next ebb tide and means fortransmitting power from the Hoats to the driven mechanism.

6. A tide motor comprising a float freely movable with the tide, a pairof independently movable floats adapted to be lifted alternately at tidespeed during two downward movements of the first float and means fortransmitting power from the floats to the driven mechanism.

7. A tide motor comprising a float freely movable with the tide, wellscontaining additional floats, a reservoir above high tide level, meansto admit tide water to the Wells, means to admit water from thereservoir to the wells and means for transmittingl power from the floatsto the driven mechanism.

S. A tide motor comprising a float freely movable with the tide, wellscontaining additional floats, a valve in each Well controlling anopening to tide water below low water level, a reservoir abovehighwvater level, a valve in each well controlling the admission ofwater from the reservoir, all

of said valves being arranged so that the water level in the wells ismoved at tide speed when any one of the valves is open and means fortransmitting power from the floats to the driven mechanism.

9. A tide motor comprising a series of floats, connections between thefloats, and a shaft and mechanism -whereby power is.

transmitted to the shaft upon movement of each float in eitherdirection, means to per- 'mit some of the floats to be acted upon di-Massa this ith day of April, 1914.

JOHN A. KNOWLTGN.

Witnesses RoswnLL F. HATCH, NATHAN C. LOMBARD.

